Onionology is complicated. Will try to clarify a little: First a little background: "onion" is a huge catch-all imprecise category encompassing a highly diverse clan, allium cepa and other allium species as well. What we are talking about here are bi-annual bulbing onions, grown from seed. All varieties of bulbing onions ultimately derive from the so-called "spanish" onion. They fall into two rough categories, long-day and short-day, based on how much daylight there is around the solstices where the plant is growing. So bulbing onions are highly sensitive to photo period. The first most important thing to know is whether your latitude is "short" day or "long" day. As it happens, Kentucky is kind of in the middle, either might work though long day is probably more likely to do well. There are also a few hybrid varieties called "intermediate" day that might do best of all for you. Short-day varieties are sown in fall and come to full size in late spring. They require more than just low latitude, they also require a mild winter climate, about z7b or warmer, so some regions of KY might work and others not. Long-day are sown soon after the winter solstice and planted out in early spring and are full size in mid to late summer, depending. An exception is the walla-walla which is adapted to the PNW and I think there may be one or two others long-days that can be fall-sown in mild northern climes. So the infamous "sets" are small bulbs grown from seed and then planted to grow for the plant's second season. The plant really wants to bolt and grow seed rather than a bulb. Sets are a scam perpetrated by seed companies. They are mostly a waste of time and space. Buy plants grown from seed in texas next year, they come at just the right time for planting out and the results will be far better.

25 watts per 5 gallons is reccomended. Get one that has a control knob. The 7.5 says it is good up to 5 gallons and may be. But I don't think they have an adjustment on them. If a heater is overworked it will have a greater possibility to fail or worse over heat the aquarium. A 25 watt with an adjustment knob is the way to go. I like the freshwater master test kit by aquarium pharmaceuticals. I prefer the reagent type vs. multi test strips. In the long run the set is less expensive. The color cards are easier to read then some others, IMO. It has the vital tests you need pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. The strips ammonia test are sometimes skewed and are not accurate in some instances. It's like a Jr High chemistry set. You can get a small bottle of Prime by seachem or amquel+ ( I use prime, again a price thing you need less to treat more then amquel+, so it goes a long way) even though this is mainly for dechlorination it also removes ammonia and other crap. It can be double dosed to keep very high ammonia in check. Zeolite also helps. Usually just frequent water changes will dilute the water. If you read any of the bio-chemistry articles in the link I gave you you can see how pH plays a factor in the toxicity of ammonia and nitrites. Having well water is nice but you "could" have other issues to contend with. One major factor is pH, not so much for type of fish but it can really mess with establishing a nitrogen cycle. Water parameters will determine What% water to change and how often. After it is established, for regular maintainance IME with smaller aquariums I have found it better to do a smaller% more often, rule of thumb is 25% every 2 weeks minimally. If you have a Bio-wheel then you can change the cartridge part as the directions for it state. If you want to save a little$, make a slit in the blue fiber and dump out the activated carbon and replace it with new from a bulk container. I never had a problem in the past ( when I was a kid) establishing an aquarium. When I decided to start it up again (after 20 yrs.) I had alot of trouble. The city supplied water in the town I grew up in was pretty good quality and all I did was keep buckets of tap water on hand for water changes. I only had one test kit, pH, the litmus(sp?) paper. When that ran out I never replaced it. The only difference was water chemistry everything else I did was identical. The things I am mentioning are not gospel as the only way to do this. However, down the road when you may want to try different fish, live plants etc. it really helps to know how your system works and what is needed to maintain it. The only time I test the water now is if I suspect a problem or it has been a while since the last test. I always test new aquariums until I'm satisfied that they are OK. If Victoria's doesn't have what you need maybe Fredrick's ?? Also, don't get me wrong, I support independent fish stores but the link below can help for some of the things you may need that they can't order for you. Just click on the fish when you get there. Here is a link that might be useful: The good Dr.'s

Chapter 1--'We loved your display garden. We want something similar in our back yard.' Make appointment. Chapter 2--Spend 1 hour w/client and 20' x 30' backyard with mature Acer palmatum and other issues--such as maxed out lot coverage and nasty neighbors. Chapter 2 1/2--Client has very tight budget. Chapter 3--Get deposit and gather site data. Draw plan that will address dreams and dollars. Chapter 4--Present plan--they love it. Get paid for plan. Chapter 5--Have phone call asking for changes by the time I get home. I explain economic impact. Chapter 6--Have email and phone changes that will increase cost and completely change the design which will cost the even client more money. Chapter 7--to be continued....Is she a psycho or just indecisive?

Thank you all for your support it means the world to me. I've always been the type to beat myself up for not knowing how to do the things just right. It would not be so bad if dad's mind wasn't clear as a bell right now. His abuse of his medicine is a real concern for me. I got a call from him today saying he needs his antibiotic for his sinus, well he'll only take one or two and he says it cures his sinus. You and I know this isn't so and even if it does help it's short term, taking the antibiotics like that can cause harm but no one can get this through to my dad. I have had so many problems with doctors in my past that I don't trust them easily. It was me that saved my husband from a possible stroke, his blood pressure was high and I could tell when it was up but with the sleep apne he had to take showed how bad it was. They could not get it down all night so I marched into our dr.'s and told them about this and they looked back at his chart and seen that it was high everytime he went in for a check up. Now why don't they pay more attention to this? This is why I fear looking for yet another doctor. I have no luck with them. Only once did I have a wonderful doctor and within a year my insurance changed and he didn't take it :( He was the one that listen to me about my weight and took test finding that my thyroid was bad. I went through years with a sore throat and my throat closing up at night in my sleep, waking up unable to breath for 10 or so seconds but felt longer and didn't know if I'd get my breath. If it's wasn't for y'all I don't know if I'd be able to be strong for my dad. I never knew it could be so hard. I look at pictures of my grandparents, dads parents and talk to them and wishing they were here. They had a hard life and I can just image that they went through just what I am now. They took care of my great grandmother for 17 years then told my grandmothers brother it was time for him to care for his mother and give them a break. Great grandmother was called little granny and I never seen pictures of her but heard great stories about her, I found a picture of her the other day and I'm so happy to finally seen her, she past away a few years before I was born. Sorry for being long winded. Barbara